Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Funds crunch to impact key defence projects

By Ajai Shukla

Business Standard, 3rd Mar 13

With the defence capital budget raised by just Rs 7,162
crore --- a 9% rise from the 2012-13 budgetary estimate of Rs 79,578 crore to
this year’s allocation of Rs 86,740 crore --- the threat of delay hangs over
several major arms purchases, including the Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT)
for the Indian Air Force (IAF); the army’s mountain strike corps for the
Sino-Indian border; and the navy’s keenly-pursued Project 75I to build six
conventional submarines.

Senior government officials defend the token 9% rise in the
capital procurement budget by calling it a 25% rise over last year’s revised
estimates. Senior military officers reject that logic, pointing out that the
revised estimates were artificially lowered through an arbitrary cut of Rs
10,000 crore by the finance ministry (MoF) at the end of 2012, to reduce the
fiscal deficit.

Top military officers say that annual inflation in the cost
of defence equipment is 15%. This year’s capital budget should have been at
least 15% higher than last year’s budgetary estimates. Over and above that, the
Rs 10,000 crore slashed last year should have been added on to this year’s
allocation, they say.

All three services are scrambling to ensure that key
programmes are not impacted. IAF boss, Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne, and
Defence Minister AK Antony, both stated at the Aero India 2013 show in
Bengaluru last month that the contract for 126 Rafale fighters would be inked
with French company, Dassault, in 2013. With 15% of that estimated Rs 75,000
crore contract required to be paid at the time of signing, the Rafale contract
alone would account for 13% of the total capital budget. That is why the military
argues that the Rs 10,000 crore slashed from last year’s budget should be added
on to this year’s allocation.

That leaves a question mark over key IAF procurements. The
most immediate is the IAF’s proposed acquisition of 37 more Pilatus PC-7 Mark
II trainer aircraft for about Rs 1,250 crore. Last year’s contract for 75
Pilatus trainers, the first of which have been delivered already, specifies an
option for 37 more trainers at the contracted price. Now the MoD is pushing for
an indigenous trainer, the Hindustan Turbo Trainer – 40 (HTT-40), which
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) could be asked to develop and build.

Also on the chopping block is the contract for 12
AgustaWestland AW-101 VVIP helicopters, which the MoD proposes to cancel after
Italian investigators claimed that parent company, Finmeccanica, bribed Indian
officials to secure. Rs 1,800 crore has already been paid to AgustaWestland
(i.e. 45% of the total Rs 4,000 crore price), but the MoD has blocked further
payments, including Rs 1800 crore that was to be paid in 2013-14.

Likely to be delayed is the IAF’s ongoing Rs 9,000 crore
purchase of six Airbus A330 MRTT aircraft, which was chosen earlier this year
over the Russian IL-78. The contract has not yet been inked; so far, Airbus has
been chosen as the “preferred bidder,” with whom the contract will be
negotiated. But with money in tight supply, IAF officials apprehend that “price
negotiations” will be dragged on through 2013. Reportedly muddying the waters
is a fresh offer from Moscow for providing the IL-78 tanker on lease to the IAF.

The Indian Army will face its share of cuts, with the
biggest target being the “mountain strike corps” for the Sino-Indian border that
will be raised in the 12th Defence Plan period (2012-2017) at a
reported cost of Rs 80,000 crore. With this money to be paid out over 7-8
years, the current year could see only manpower recruitment and low-cost
acquisitions, with the bulk of the expenditure pushed forward into 2014-15 and
after.

Also delayed will be the Future Infantry Combat Vehicle
(FICV), a massive Rs 50,000 crore initiative for Indian defence manufacturers
to design and build 2,600 FICVs to replace the army’s obsolescent BMP-II
infantry carriers. With the MoD unable to choose between the four Indian
bidders (L&T, Tata Motors, Mahindras and the Ordnance Factories), this
year’s money crunch would result in this decision being pushed into the next
year.

A question mark also hangs over the procurement of 155
millimetre artillery guns, which has been sputtering along for over a decade.
The MoD has asked the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and the Defence R&D
Organisation (DRDO) to press ahead with indigenous manufacture. Financial
outlays are unlikely to be made this year.

The Indian Navy, streets ahead of the army and IAF
indigenous production of defence equipment, is unlikely to face delays in the
ongoing projects to build warships in Indian defence and private sector
shipyards. However, the fund crunch is likely to impact the conventional submarine
building programme, particularly Project 75I. This involves building six
submarines with “air independent propulsion” for an estimated Rs 35,000 crore.
Although the shortage of submarines is now a critical operational weakness for
the navy, there is unlikely to be movement in Project 75I.

8 comments:

parthvader89
said...

I think we should downsize the Army to less than a million. 50% of this should be part time reserve. This will bring down revenue expenditure by at least 30%. Leaving a LOT of funds for modernisation and quality.

AF should be forced to adopt LCA mk2/Rafale/both as its primary backbone and move towards standardisation around a single/or two type/s. Sukhoi is a SUPER white elephant with ridiculously low mission availability and sortie rates from what I have heard. It should be shelved if this is true! It will cost us more for the next few years than what it costed to buy them.

And the navy needs to order larger batches (12-20) of a standard design rather than issuing new contracts after every 'batch of 3'. It will save a LOT of money. And lets leave patrolling to coast guard please.

AND Fix the police rather than raising indefinitely large 'paramilitary' forces and 'rashtriya rifles' battalions. These things should be disbanded and AFSP repealed.

When other things had started going somewhat on the track, the defense budget crashed the hopes.I think some small percentage of defense surcharge shall be imposed on all industrial and commercial activities just like the education cess.

If all the budgetary constraints result in greater indigenous production, then it may just be then thing this country needs. In this regard please refer to your quote regarding the FICV programme. Our first version of any indigenous equipment may be inferior to what is available in the international market, but its only when we have our own production can we then claim to be ready for any war inn the future.

Agree with parthvader89All the countries (except china) are reducing their defence budget due to current economic conditions. United states will not be able to even maintain their current defence budget.Our immediate planning focus should be on effective gear for soldiers, body armour, intelligence, communication and tactics to tackle militancy.With nuclear weapons,I don't see any immediate chance of a full blown war. The long term planning should be on gaining self-sufficiency on high technology items to make India one of top military powers. The amount of money we are throwing at foreign supplier makes me sick. No major military power can rely on foreign arm imports.155 mm artillery guns, Attack helicopters, militray heavy vehices, Tanks, fighter planes, UAV's, missiles, submarines, and warships can be made locally. We have already done the difficult part of setting up these programs and creating local infrastructure. The private industry should join these programs. Tata owns land rover , the best off roading vehicles for the military. Due to reduced defence budget in europe and america, we should be able to attract some experienced scientists and consultants for our local programs.Upgrade of mirage is too expensive .LCA mk1/mk2 can replace these mirage fighters. We are paying too high a price to get the technologies that is already present in LCA.Our economy has other fiscal priorities than spending money on arm imports.

parthvader89, Thank heavens for there are saner people in the decision making circle. Scrapping Rashtriya Rifles? Boss, you should be spanked till you retract your statement. You have absolutely no clue about their success rate, their doctrine and their pig hunting skills and strategies sharpened over the years battling swines in the valley. The rest of your post is just as laughable.

Am glad there are arm chairs like you who provide us with some much needed comic relief. The operational and fighting capability of 50% left in reserve would show in the battle field. Read a bit of military history first.